KEY POINTS:
On the face of it, the Basterrechea-Joneses of Washington DC are about to greet new neighbours - the Obamas - whose lives look similar on paper. Both families have a mother with a law degree, a father who loves sport and two vivacious young daughters.
But while the
Obamas are moving into perhaps the most famous residence in the world, the Basterrechea-Joneses live a few kilometres away in one of the poorest neighbourhoods of Washington, next door to a home reclaimed by a bank because its owner failed to pay the mortgage.
In Anacostia, 98 per cent of the population are black. Economically comfortable themselves, the family are attempting to follow Barack Obama's philosophy of "spreading the wealth around", offering food to the addicts who come to the door hungry, and giving odd jobs to locals trapped in a cycle of crime and wilful segregation.
Their delight at Obama's victory is evident. But living in Anacostia has taught them to be cautious.
"I know people in this community are very hopeful after the election," says Ivette Basterrechea, 38, as her 5-year-old daughter, Eliza, sits in her lap.
"But people have been hopeful for many years. And [the district] has come up maybe this much," she adds, putting her thumb and forefinger millimetres apart.
The huge majority of residents in the city are non-white and the contrast between the prosperity of northwest DC and poorer, predominantly black areas such as Anacostia is stark.
In black Washington there are more than twice as many gun deaths as in white Washington. Black unemployment in the city has historically been four times higher than in the white population.
If the President-elect does not reach out to places like Anacostia, "he'll have a lot to answer for", Basterrechea, 38, says.
"I'm not looking for him to come here and nail boards to houses, but is he going to put people in [government] departments who are willing to fight these battles?"
Her husband, Keith Jones, 43, admits he is often asked why he chooses to raise their five children "in the ghetto" when nicer areas - white areas - are within reach. The answer lies in the same commitment to social activism that inspired Obama to devote himself to organising and campaigning in the poorest areas of South Side Chicago.
"I just didn't think it would be fair to vote for Obama, to put him in office to clean up a mess that Bush and his cronies should've been thrown off a bridge for," Jones says.
The new mayor of Washington, Adrian Fenty, is also young and black and he has already set the bar high for Obama.
"I know he won't be a president who just happens to live in the White House," Fenty said the day after the election. "He will be a president who will see the issues of the city and want to do something about them."
Obama never campaigned in Anacostia, the district that is now, as Basterrechea puts it, "his backyard".
In fact, a white radical and former presidential candidate, Ralph Nader, is the only presidential hopeful to pass through the blighted area in modern times.
In many ways, Obama succeeded by offering himself as an exceptional candidate who happened to be black, rather than an exceptional black candidate.
What, then, should his relationship be with black Washington? According to Anabelle, aged 10, his arrival in the White House will give hope. "He didn't really have a lot when he was growing up," she says.
"He built his reputation ... " Basterrechea interrupts. "Instead of inheriting it."
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